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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

In addition to collaborating and presenting on The Global Classroom Project (Teachers Teaching Teachers About Global Projects) I was lucky enough to pull together four amazing Language Arts/English teachers to share their experiments and adventures with Digital Reading/Writing Workshop at the 4tVirtualCon. If you've read some of my other posts: Dude, Can You Please Edit and We Have Authentic Voices, you know that one of my passions is using digital tools to give students authentic opportunities to write and to reflect on what they've read. These four teachers are doing it and shared their ideas in this presentation.

I wanted to use this post to share their amazing work. They were all generous enough to also share some hand-outs they use and resources they found helpful. If you have additional resources or if you've blogged about similar topics, please comment here and add your own ideas, links or questions!

Two great colleagues jumped on it: @tdallen5 and
@Elle_Gifted.
We co-wrote the presentation over Google Docs, not the least deterred that we
lived in three different states: Virginia, Illinois, and
Mississipi. I also contacted some teachers I’m lucky enough to work with in my
own school division (http://mskcherry.weebly.com/
and http://communicationandrelationships.weebly.com/)
to see if they could participate as well and speak first-hand about their
experiences with global learning projects. Despite calling @tdallen5 an hour
earlier than she was expecting me once (darn those time zones!) and at least
one teacher being thwarted from participating by state testing, we are set to
present Tuesday, May 22nd at 2:30pm EST. And, of course, none of
that would have been possible without the help of @mgraffin who
not only connected us in the first place, but proofed our presentation and
helped us connect with even more resources!

In addition to loving the fact that putting together this
presentation was in itself a global project, it was a great chance to reflect
again on why I am so passionate about global projects. Listening this past
Thursday to one teacher practicing online with the moderator (in Michigan), I was
reminded how much we have to gain by letting students communicate with their
peers around the world.

Communicating with others fosters self-reflection

American
students were stunned to learn that their friends and Hong
Kong were planning to study over their winter vacation

Two
girls connected about how hard it is to change when you get headed down
the wrong track

Students rise to the occasion when there is an authentic
audience

English
Language Learners in the United States
practiced their speeches over and over again to make sure that their
friends in Hong Kong could understand
them

Students
revised their “finished” writing when they knew students elsewhere would
be reading and listening to their work

Teachers grow from global collaboration too

I am so grateful to Global Classroom Project for:

helping
me create a PLN where I can send out a tweet and end up presenting with
peers across the country in a virtual conference

providing
a place where teachers can create their own project and connect with
teachers across the world

keeping
me motivated and inspired to make global project a part of as many
classrooms as I can

About Me

Technology Integration Specialist. Passionate about learning fueled by technology. Goal: create connected, global learning communities for adolescents in which they feel a higher sense of purpose for their lives. Working on being a good mom too!